Justice Department officials announced the arrests on Saturday of three of the most prominent protesters accused of last week’s Capitol siege – including the shirtless and horn-hatted invader who went viral after turning the Senate platform into one. personal throne worthy of Conan the Barbarian.
Jacob Anthony Chansley called the FBI office in Washington on Thursday and later turned himself in to the police, the feds said.
“Chansley said he came as part of a group effort with other ‘patriots’ in Arizona, at the president’s request that all ‘patriots’ come to DC on January 6, 2021, the DOJ said.
Chansley, 33, who calls himself “QAnon Shaman”, was just the strangest of all the hundreds of pro-Trump extremists who invaded the Capitol on Wednesday and are now being arrested across the country.
The feds also announced the arrests of Adam Christian Johnson, 36, seen in a viral video that allegedly carried the pulpit of mayor Nancy Pelosi, and a West Virginia lawmaker who helpfully – to investigators – broadcast live to you even shouting: “Derrick Evans is on the Capitol!”
Thanks in large part to the images released by the protesters themselves that day, which now flood the Internet, prosecutors on Saturday had filed at least 17 lawsuits against suspects appointed in the federal district court, alleging serious and punishable crimes as violent entry and assaulting federal officials.
At least 40 other cases in the District Court of Columbia allege minor charges, including curfew violations and non-violent firearm crimes. They face a variety of crimes, including assaulting police officers, entering restricted areas of the United States Capitol, theft of federal property and threats to lawmakers.
Prosecutors said other cases remain confidential.
Among those accused by the federal government are Lonnie Coffman of Falkville, Alabama, a 70-year-old man who reportedly brought guns and 11 glass pots of Molotov cocktails to protest in his pickup.
Mark Warner, a Democrat who is the next chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged mobile operators on Saturday to preserve social media content related to the uprising, which left five people dead, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick .
Johnson, the man from Parrish, Florida, allegedly depicted in a viral photo carrying Pelosi’s pulpit, was arrested in his home state on Friday and is being held in Pinellas County prison by a federal warrant after the US Marshals caught him , ABC News reported. .
He was accused of intentionally entering or staying in any restricted building or land without legal authority; an accusation of theft of government property; and a charge of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, the feds said.
Johnson is a housewife who lives with his wife and five children, reported The Bradenton Herald.
The pulpit was found the day after the siege, in a corridor in the Senate wing, close to the Rotunda, the feds said.
It has a value of “more than $ 1,000,” according to officials, who cited the curator of the Chamber of Deputies.
A rioter photographed with his boot on Pelosi’s table, Richard Barnett, 60, has been accused of violent entry, theft of public property and other federal crimes.
Evans, a freshman member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, reportedly broadcast live by entering the Capitol with the crowd on Facebook. shouting as he crossed the threshold: “We’re in, we’re in! Derrick Evans is on the Capitol! “
Accused of intentionally entering or staying in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct, he left the Chamber of Delegates on Saturday.
“I hope it helps to start the healing process,” he said in a resignation letter, “so that we can all move forward and unite as’ One nation, under the leadership of God.”
His lawyer insisted that he “was not part of the rioters’ main body” and did nothing wrong during the rape.
Among those whose arrests were announced on Saturday, the horned crown for strangeness still belongs to Chansley.
“This individual was carrying a spear approximately 1.8 meters long, with an American flag tied just below the blade,” said the feds about Chansley, 33, also known as Jake Angeli, who was arrested on Saturday.
Chansley is an avid supporter of Trump and wears the same horned suit while spouting conspiracy theories in the state capital in Phoenix, according to the Republic of Arizona.
Awakening QAnon supporters at a Trump 2020 rally in Phoenix, Chansley told the crowd, “The snowball is rolling and it’s just getting bigger. We are the mainstream now ”, reported the vehicle.
He was accused of intentionally entering or staying in any restricted building or land without legal authority, and of violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds.
“The fact that we have a bunch of our traitors in the office crouching, putting on their gas masks and retreating to their underground bunker, I consider that a victory,” Chansley, identified as Angeli, told NBC News after the turmoil.
He said his beliefs are based on Internet searches by groups he believes control the world, such as the Illuminati.
“At a certain point, everything worked out in a way,” he told the Republic.
“Oh my God. Now I see the reality of what is going on.”
Also on Saturday, the mayor of Gravette, Arkansas, issued a public statement after former resident Barnett was arrested after being photographed sitting in Pelosi’s office, with his dirty work boot on his desk.
“It is a pity that something like this is what puts it in the public eye,” Mayor Kurt Maddox told local Fox24. “This is not the city of Gravette, this person is not who Gravette is and who the people are.”
Resident Joseph Cowan told the station: “We are a bunch of good people [and] we just ate that rotten egg that I think caused a lot of trouble for Gravette now. “
With Post Wires